Process of generating hydrogen.



G. ELLIS. PROCESS 0F GENERATING HYDROGEN.

AFPLIUATION FILED JUNE 16, 1913.

cantaron Eri-Lis, onMoNrc'LIn'nnw rEnsnY.

- 'ritocns's or" GENERATING nviinoeniv.

T all ltv hom it, 'may concordi# Be it known that I, Cameron Ennis, a

lcitizen of the United. States, and a resident of Montclair, in the county of Essex and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Processes of Generating Hydrogen, of which the following is a specification.

This invention Vrelates to a method. of generating gas consisting wholly or largely of hydrogen derived from `the breaking down of the oils and in particular heavy oils and residuum by the' action of high tempera-- tures. e

The accompanying. drawing shows mainly in vertical section an apparatus suitable for carrying out the presentI invention.

In the drawing l is a generator or receptacle having the arched roof 2 and fire -bed 3, the fuel usedbeing preferably coke.

4 is an opening for the withdrawal of cliiiker or slag and as shown intended for the removal of the clinlgerin" the form of molten slag. I i

5 is a twyer connected `with the bustle i pipe'; this in turn communicates with an air pr'eheater 8 by means of the pipe 7.

l9 is a pump or blower Jfurnishing a supplyof air to the'preheaterz.l The Vpipe 10 may be' used duction of steam or air. The 'pipe 11 may be used for the introduction o'f steam or air,

or inert gas; or, if' desired, hydrogen gas may be admitted in lieu of the foregoing.

12 is a fuel feeding'hopper.

13 is the oil .supply pipewith which are connected the oil feeding pipes 14 and 15: Preferably as shown the pipe I4 is situated so that the oil dischargingtherefrom falls on the inclined exposed surface of fire brick,

l while the'other oil outlets spraythemai terial on the coke'bed.

17 is a'che'cker work which aids in completing the decomposition, but for some oils this checker work may be dispensed with en.

tirely, especially with .oils forming large quantities of soot whichowould tend to choke the passages of the checker work.

d8 is a downcomer passing through the air preheater Sfand terminating in an elbow carrying the valve 21 which maybe shifted for the intro'-l Spe'cieation of Letters Patent. Patented Api. fd, 1914s. ,Appncatioaiea June 16,1913. seriai No. 773,664.

may pass away either the pipe 20. separately collecting the gas produced during the air blow and the hydrogenwhich isproduced by a subsequent operation. Y, e Two or more generators maybe utilized to advantage under some circumstances in that the gases in hot productsv arising from` the air blow in one generator may be carried to a second generator where more air is admitted and combustion of the gas al lowed totake place to aid in the heating the second generator while the first generator is being brought to final working head..

In carrying out the invention as disclosed illustrative'ly by virtue of the accompany- `ing purely .diagrammatic drawing, I may` first charge' into vthe. generator a quantity of coke mixed with a' small per cent. of

heat by blowingpreheated air through the twyers 5. A temperature'of 12000 to 1400o C; preferably is Isecuredr and as stated it is preferable to collect the slag in the liquid form by the addition of a suitable flux such as lime as thisavoids many diiiiculties-in connection withclinlrering The products ,from such air vblow may be, -as stated, carriedto -a second .generator and burned there in order to raise same in temperature more or less. No illustration of a second generatorv is, however, shown as such coupling of generators as herein described needs no specific illustration asregards the subject matter of the present invention. The generator 1 now having been Abrought to a white heat the air blast is shut oil' and heavy petroleum oil or other suitable oil is injected by means of the distributingl pipes 14: and 15 and when .this oil strikesthe hot bed of coke decomposition occurs with the formation of some coke and somelamp black,relative amounts depending on the nature of the oil and the temperature of the generator. It is desirable to convert the carbon of the oil largely into colge in order to minimize the vdiffic'ulf ties brought about by the production of large c'fiiantities of soot.v A very high 'teinp'erature facilitates the coking operation and by the addition. of lime with the coke which to thepositi'on-shown at 22 so that the gasv is charged into the'generator slagging by the Ifpipe 19 orv Thus, means are provided for lime in casea liquid slag isto be produced 'and the bed of coke is brought to a white completes the decomposition so that a maximum supply of hydrogen is secured. Thel soot which may thereby form in the checker work may be burned out during the -air "1:5

blow. The generator and passage-way lead- Y. ing therefrom being now filled with hydrogen gasI it is important to remove same without contamination by other gases.

. To this end steam is blown into the generator .by means of pipe 11 and sweeps across the fuel bed without contacting "with the'fuel to any material extent so that carbon' monoxid is not produced to impurify the gas. If the re bed is of considerable depth so that much hydrogen is contained in the spaces bet-weenthe fuel a similar amount of steam may be entered by the pipe l10 to expel the hydrogen from the fuel bed, but preferably no great amount of steam should be introduced at this point,`be

. cause the steam in passing through the fuel bed forms carbon monoxid which is not always a desirable constituent to have as an impurity in hydrogen gas. The steam pipe 11 above' the fuel bed enables the removal of the major proportion of the hydrogen withi out, material contact of the same with the fuel. After the hydrogen has been removed the steam may be shut off and the air current again directed through the fuel bed to heat same to a white heat or other suitable temperature and before the oil is again added, it is usually desirable to blow steam for an instant through thepipe 10 'and also through the flushing pipe 11 in order to ex- 'pel the gases and products of combustion. The amount -of steam admitted in this manner preferably should be as slight as possible. If desired the steam may be superheated before-passing it into the generator. By operating in this way but little cooling action is lbrought about so that when the oil is entered after the flushing-out operation has been completed, the oil comes into contact with the white hot fuel bed and walls of the generator and hydrogen is produced as aforesaid. The oil may be introduced if desired by the pipe 10 so -that the oil may be entered into the apparatus both above the fuely and within the fuel bed. In order to prevent choking up of the pipes 14 and 15 and also the pipe 10, if same is used for the admission of oil, it is desirable to blow a littlel team throughthese pipes after the oil has been admitted7 in order to clean such pipes and prevent incrustations of carbonaceous material.

The gas may be purified by passing over quicklime or hydrated lime and iron oxid to remove carbon dioxid and sulfur and if desired through a mass of heated calcium carbid to eliminate oxygen or carbon monoxid should these bodies be present in any undesirable amount.'

vIt will now be evident that Various modifications of the foregoing method may be carried out with divers forms of apparatus without departing from the scope of the present invention and 1 therefore do not wish to be limited to the precise terms of the illustrative embodiment as above set forth.

What I claimxis: 4

1. The process of generating hydrogen which comprises heating a bed of fuel to a white heat in a confined space, adding oil thereto to decompose the oil into hydrogen and carbon and sweeping out the hydrogen with steam passed over but not through said bed of fuel.'

2..The process of generating hydrogen which comprises heating a bedof fuel to a white heat in a confined space, sweeping the products of combustion away from the surface `of the bed of fuel, adding oil to said bed, whereby said oil is decomposed into carbon and hydrogen and Asweeping out the hydrogen with vsteam passed over but not through said bed of fuel.

3. The process of generating hydrogen which comprises Charging coke into a closed receptacle, bringing the coke to a white heat by introducing a blast of air thereinto and causing combustion to take place, shutting off the blast of air, flushing out the .waste gases surrounding the coke with steam when the coke has reached a white heat, injecting heavy petroleum oil onto the heated fue1,

allowing the oil to `remain in Contact with the heated fuel until such oil has been substantially decomposed into hydrogen and carbon, removing the hydrogen as produced,`

and flushing out the hydrogen surrounding the coke with steam wit-hout substantial contact of the steam with the bed of heated coke.

4. The process. of generating hydrogen which comprises heating a mixture of coke with a small amount of fluxing material to a white heat in a confined space, adding oil thereto to .decompose the-oil into carbon and hydrogen and sweeping out the hydrogen with steam said bed of-fuel.

5. The process of generating hydrogen which consists in bringing a bed of fuel to al white heat in a refractory chamber, adding oil to the bed of fuel, simultaneously passed over but not through applying oil vto the heated surface of the refractory container and sweeping out the gases surrounding the bed of fuel with steam passed over but not through said beck of fuel.

6. In the process of generating hydrogen by the decomposition of oil, the Step which consists in applying oil to a heated bed of coke inclosed in a refractory chamber and Witnesses Signed at Montclair in the county of Essex and State of New Jersey this 12th day of June A. D. 1913.

CARLETON ELLIS.

B. M. ELLIS, F. CARBUTr. 

